


eye for an eye

by Lexie



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-22
Updated: 2010-06-22
Packaged: 2017-10-10 05:53:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexie/pseuds/Lexie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Jesse St. James thinks that he has in any way cowed, intimidated, or broken Rachel Berry's heart, he is entirely incorrect.</p><p>Well, to be truthful, he did break her heart. But he didn't do the first two things. Rachel doesn't scare easily when it comes to the world of competitive show choir. Her colors don't run, and neither does her stage makeup, even immediately after the crushing loss to Vocal Adrenaline.</p>
            </blockquote>





	eye for an eye

If Jesse St. James thinks that he has in any way cowed, intimidated, or broken Rachel Berry's heart, he is entirely incorrect.

Well, to be truthful, he did break her heart. But he didn't do the first two things. Rachel doesn't scare easily when it comes to the world of competitive show choir. Her colors don't run, and neither does her stage makeup, even immediately after the crushing loss to Vocal Adrenaline.

Jesse calls her that night. Rachel has already cried herself to sleep in her eucalyptus eyemask (eight and a half full hours of REM sleep are necessary for a growing teenager; Glee Club may be over, but Rachel is still going to sing and still needs to take care of herself, and by extension, her voice), but in the morning, she sees the missed call from his number, and she hesitates over her cell phone for a long moment before snapping it shut.

He texts her later that afternoon, telling her to meet him in the park where they fed baby ducks in the halcyon days of their courtship. Rachel considers it very carefully. She's deep in the throes of celebration with her fellow Glee Clubbers, and it could be a trap, and the idea of Jesse _assuming_ that she'll go is beyond infuriating. She imagines leaving him to sit there in the park alone for hours, waiting, and it's moderately satisfying.

In the end, Rachel goes.

He's sitting on their bench with a loaf of bread, breaking it into tiny chunks with his fingers and rifling it into the pond. His head is down; he's wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, which isn't quite to his usual dapper standard.

Rachel stops five full feet away. "What do you want?" she asks, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.

Jesse looks up. "To talk," he says, and when he stands up, Rachel determinedly doesn't take a step back. "Wow. I didn't think you were coming."

They face off across five feet of grass and squawking ducks.

"I'm here. So," Rachel says, unimpressed. She folds her arms. "Talk."

Jesse looks uncomfortable. _Good_, Rachel thinks firmly. He deserves to feel uncomfortable. "I -- was wondering how you were doing." He slips his hands into his pockets. Rachel half expects him to come out with silly string or a hand buzzer, but he keeps his hands in the pockets.

"You lost the right to ask that question several weeks ago," she says matter of factly. A mother, jogging and pushing a stroller on the nearby walking path, shoots the two of them a funny look in passing. This must look like some kind of strange showdown duel. Rachel wistfully thinks of crushing Jesse in a sing-off.

He winces. "Okay. I deserved that." He glances down for several seconds, then back up. "You guys were really, really good."

"So were you," Rachel says stiffly. "But you went sharp on the high B-flat." Jesse half laughs; Rachel turns to leave.

"Hey -- Rachel, wait--" Jesse's footsteps scramble after her, and when Rachel whirls back to face him, she stops him dead in his tracks with a can of pepper spray held six inches from his face.

"I'm not going to be ambushed again, Jesse," she says, her voice tight, as she holds up her other hand in a _wait_ gesture in the general direction of the parking lot. The hand with the pepper spray doesn't waver. Jesse's eyes nearly cross as he tries to stare at the can's nozzle. "I have pepper spray and backup, and I am not afraid to use them."

"Okay," he says, his eyes still on the can. He slowly raises both hands in an _I surrender_ movement. "Okay. I didn't come here to ambush you."

"No eggs this time?" Rachel asks bitterly.

Jesse exhales. "No. No Vocal Adrenaline members, either." Beat. "Did you say you have _backup_?"

"I'm not stupid," she informs him. "I didn't come alone." She signals the parking lot again, and Tina honks the horn of her dad's SUV. Mercedes leans out the passenger window, and Quinn and Kurt out either side of the backseat. Mercedes very seriously points two fingers at her own eyes, then at Jesse. Rachel had liked the idea of bringing Finn or Puck as an army in reserve, but had been unable to shake the thought that either or both of them might start a fight instead of allowing her to handle this for herself. As invigorating as the thought of Finn punching Jesse St. James in the face is, Rachel is going to take care of this.

"Smart," says Jesse. "Can you put the pepper spray away?"

Rachel pretends to consider it, then she says, "No. Tell me what you want."

"I just--" Jesse sighs sharply, looking and sounding annoyed, which greatly increases Rachel's belief that he's actually being truthful. "I wanted to apologize. Not that you're making it easy." Under his breath: "Not that you make anything easy."

"_Apologize?_" Rachel asks incredulously. "I find it extremely dubious that you don't feel sorry until your underhanded tactics have already helped win you the regional title."

"I always felt sorry," he says, his voice low, and with his eyes on hers up close like this, it's easy to remember why she fell in love with him and was so certain in their status as musical soulmates. "Look, Rachel -- it started out as a game, but by the end, I really liked you. I still really like you."

Rachel's lips thin. "You're the only boy I've ever heard of who viciously dumps and then assaults the girls he likes with animal products."

"I -- I know," he says. "I know. I'm sorry. Emily and the rest said I was out for the rest of the year if I didn't make a Berry omelette, and I--"

"Was a coward," Rachel finishes for him. He opens his mouth, but she doesn't let him say another word. "I don't need your apology or your pity," she tells him. "Glee Club has been given a stay of execution for another year." His head comes up sharply at that. "We're going to come back even stronger next year, and we're going to take it all the way to Nationals." Her eyes are shining. She tilts her head for maximum sassy, snappy effect. "And by the way, I have a boyfriend now."

Jesse's enormous frown makes this entire interaction totally worth it. "_Hudson?_"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Rachel says airily, and then she presses down on the can's trigger. Jesse shouts and stumbles backward, raising his hands to claw at his face -- and then he stops and slowly looks at her. "Goodbye, Jesse," Rachel says calmly, the can of compressed air with a fake label clutched tight in her hand. "Good luck at Nationals."

Then Rachel Berry turns and flounces her way back to an SUV full of adoring fans. Or applauding friends. Whatever you want to call them, it doesn't matter; Rachel drops them a highly proper curtsey in her short skirt and then clambers over Kurt into the backseat, and Tina peels out, and the five of them belt along with the radio, laughing and chattering, the whole way back to the student parking lot at McKinley.

Rachel lets Tina have the solo on the Ke$ha song that plays. It seems like the right thing to do.

Plus, it isn't like it's vocally taxing or anything. Tina can _probably_ handle it.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Awesome Ladies Ficathon of 2010, on LiveJournal.


End file.
